Director:
Patrick Keith
Studio/Production Company:
Domm Bunny Films
Genre:
Horror
Length:
Feature
Awards Won:
Indie Fest USA 2008 - Best Make-Up
Website:
http://www.bloodwinemovie.com
Score:
3/5
Like the creatures they depict, vampire films never seem to die. Audiences have a seemingly insatiable thirst for watching them and filmmakers appear to have an undying interest in making them. Apparently, however, nobody is content to see or, more importantly, make a straight up, old school vampire movie. Everyone wants to put their own spin on the mythology, twist some of the expectations and try to do something new while still employing the classic elements of the characters first introduced in literature hundreds of years ago. So, fittingly, there have been ridiculous Wild West vampires and vampires from outer space but there have been solid revisionist takes on the story, with vampirism as metaphor for drug addiction in a number of films such as the recent British flick “Night Junkies” as well as a couple of the best vampire films, “Salem’s Lot” and “The Night Stalker”, which appeared as TV movies in the 1970’s.
So, it is the case with “Bloodwine”, an impressive little feature that works extremely well within the confines of an unmistakably low-budget because it wisely places so much emphasis on the narrative, the actual story and the relationship between the well developed main characters. Less a conventional scary horror movie, at times “Bloodwine” is, at the heart of it, a drama that happens to be about a vampire.
Set, attractively, on a small college campus, the story concerns the coincidental reunion of childhood friends Andrea (Melissa Johnson) and Brandy (Lora Meins) who suddenly, happily find themselves roommates. The film threatens to derail early on when a sequence that depicts the girls reminiscing goes on way, way, way too long without every really moving the plot along. Yes, it establishes that the girls have a long history together and lots of shared memories but the forward progress of the story really grinds to a halt and might get in the way of viewers choosing to watch the rest of the film. Those who do stick with it should be happy they did because the story that unfolds is rich, deep and charged with meaning, thanks in part to the nature of the girls friendship.
Andrea, a Goth girl is a good, serious student but a social outcast often mocked and taunted by Nicole (Christina DeYoung) and Mercedes (Heather Whitsell), the mean girls next door. When Brandy shows up, she now has someone to talk to as well as a buffer from the merciless torment of her fellow students. Nicole decides to reward Brandy for her dedication to her and sets out to find a perfect present for her birthday, ultimately settling on an old bottle of brandy, courtesy of a mysterious European woman who is scoping her out. Soon after receiving the gift, Brandy falls seriously ill and it is then not much time before students and faculty start disappearing suspiciously. Thinking the unthinkable, Andrea, still haunted by the death of her boyfriend, comes to put the pieces together and realizes that Brandy could be involved with the case of the missing students. The crux of the film really hinges on Andrea’s crisis of conscience, what she should do with her uneasy realization of Brandy’s condition.
“Bloodwine” stands out from much of the pack of indie horror films because it places more emphasis on the narrative rather than gore or violence and it does well with an apparently modest budget. The film also benefits from above average acting, especially from Lora Meins. F/X are decent, if apparently lo-fi, and director Patrick Keith (who co-wrote the screenplay with is wife, Vicky) manages to find ways of shooting around images that he is unable to produce, creating effective and attractive style, mood and atmosphere.
Patrick Keith
Studio/Production Company:
Domm Bunny Films
Genre:
Horror
Length:
Feature
Awards Won:
Indie Fest USA 2008 - Best Make-Up
Website:
http://www.bloodwinemovie.com
Score:
3/5
Like the creatures they depict, vampire films never seem to die. Audiences have a seemingly insatiable thirst for watching them and filmmakers appear to have an undying interest in making them. Apparently, however, nobody is content to see or, more importantly, make a straight up, old school vampire movie. Everyone wants to put their own spin on the mythology, twist some of the expectations and try to do something new while still employing the classic elements of the characters first introduced in literature hundreds of years ago. So, fittingly, there have been ridiculous Wild West vampires and vampires from outer space but there have been solid revisionist takes on the story, with vampirism as metaphor for drug addiction in a number of films such as the recent British flick “Night Junkies” as well as a couple of the best vampire films, “Salem’s Lot” and “The Night Stalker”, which appeared as TV movies in the 1970’s.
So, it is the case with “Bloodwine”, an impressive little feature that works extremely well within the confines of an unmistakably low-budget because it wisely places so much emphasis on the narrative, the actual story and the relationship between the well developed main characters. Less a conventional scary horror movie, at times “Bloodwine” is, at the heart of it, a drama that happens to be about a vampire.
Set, attractively, on a small college campus, the story concerns the coincidental reunion of childhood friends Andrea (Melissa Johnson) and Brandy (Lora Meins) who suddenly, happily find themselves roommates. The film threatens to derail early on when a sequence that depicts the girls reminiscing goes on way, way, way too long without every really moving the plot along. Yes, it establishes that the girls have a long history together and lots of shared memories but the forward progress of the story really grinds to a halt and might get in the way of viewers choosing to watch the rest of the film. Those who do stick with it should be happy they did because the story that unfolds is rich, deep and charged with meaning, thanks in part to the nature of the girls friendship.
Andrea, a Goth girl is a good, serious student but a social outcast often mocked and taunted by Nicole (Christina DeYoung) and Mercedes (Heather Whitsell), the mean girls next door. When Brandy shows up, she now has someone to talk to as well as a buffer from the merciless torment of her fellow students. Nicole decides to reward Brandy for her dedication to her and sets out to find a perfect present for her birthday, ultimately settling on an old bottle of brandy, courtesy of a mysterious European woman who is scoping her out. Soon after receiving the gift, Brandy falls seriously ill and it is then not much time before students and faculty start disappearing suspiciously. Thinking the unthinkable, Andrea, still haunted by the death of her boyfriend, comes to put the pieces together and realizes that Brandy could be involved with the case of the missing students. The crux of the film really hinges on Andrea’s crisis of conscience, what she should do with her uneasy realization of Brandy’s condition.
“Bloodwine” stands out from much of the pack of indie horror films because it places more emphasis on the narrative rather than gore or violence and it does well with an apparently modest budget. The film also benefits from above average acting, especially from Lora Meins. F/X are decent, if apparently lo-fi, and director Patrick Keith (who co-wrote the screenplay with is wife, Vicky) manages to find ways of shooting around images that he is unable to produce, creating effective and attractive style, mood and atmosphere.